Twenty decisions in 88 seconds

Whoa. I just read an article on the Hechinger Report that got me thinking.

In the article, Deborah Loewenberg Ball shares a 1 minute 28 second long interaction between two African American female students, in which Ball identifies 20 micro-decisions the teacher present needed to make. Each decision had the power to increase or decrease the students’ identity as mathematicians and thereby perpetuate race-based and gender-based stereotypes or not.

20 decisions in 88 seconds!

The interaction between the two girls is not unlike thousands upon thousands of interactions I presided over during my teaching tenure. I wonder how many of my micro-decisions supported my students rather than tear them down. I’m humbled right now.